Changing Times
by jsms99
Summary: Teddy wants a divorce, Rayna finds comfort with an unlikely person, Deacon doesn't know what to do.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Choices

She walked into the lobby, busy looking at her phone for messages from her lawyer, and didn't notice the man sitting at the bar. "Hey, Rayna!" her head snapped to the voice as her fingers tapped away.

"What do you want?" She was still mad at him for deceiving her.

"We have an album to finish." He took a last sip of his drink, threw some money on the bar and walked over to join her.

"I fired you." She didn't want to deal with him today. Or ever.

"And I'm going to be nice and courteous and agree to come back."

"Go away Liam."

He watched her walk away, noticing a sort of sadness in her eyes, and decided to follow her. She ended up going to her room, but Liam waited a few moments before knocking on her door.

"What? I thought I told you to go away?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't seem fine." He pushed past her and Rayna gave up. Liam was lounging on the couch a bottle of water in his hands when she joined him in the sitting area. "You want to talk about it?"

She sat heavily on the couch and leaned back. "Teddy wants a divorce."

"Ok," he leaned forward, unsure how to continue.

"And Deacon kissed me in Chicago."

"I'm not your girlfriend…"

"You asked me to talk," she glared at him, "I'm talking."

"Fine, uh, let me see." He tapped his fingers against his chin, obviously feigning seriousness. Rayna gave him a light push and let a small smile appear on her lips. "There we go! She does know how to smile!" he wiped the smile off his face and became serious. "Did you tell Teddy about Deacon?"

"No, I wanted to talk to Deacon, but Teddy showed up."

"Did Deacon see him? Or did Teddy see Deacon?"

"Not that I know of." She didn't offer anything else.

"I'm really not good at this sort of thing." He thought for a moment about their previous conversations. "I though you and Teddy were trying to work things out?"

"He's tired of waiting for me to love him."

Liam sighed and threw his hands in the air. "I think you need a drink." "I know I do," he thought to himself. He nodded in approval at the fully stocked mini-fridge and grabbed a small bottle. "Here," he told her, opening it for her.

"I don't need to be drunk."

"And this won't get you drunk, just buzzed, and trust me, you'll think better with a little alcohol."

Liam put the drink on the coffee table behind him and crouched down in front of her to put his hands on her knees. She looked up from her hands to his face and put her arms around his neck.

They both moved at the same time, their lips touched, his hands moved to her hips and he pulled her off of the couch to join him on the floor.

Hands running up her body, he started to push her jacket off her shoulders, but stopped and pulled away. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked, hurt in her eyes.

"You're marriage…"

"Is over." Smiling, she pulled him to her again. This time, he pushed her jacket off her shoulders.

**Deacon**

He'd seen Rayna come in and was going to talk to her when Liam had come up to her. It hadn't looked like a friendly conversation.

Deacon waiting and watched as Rayna went to the bank of elevators and then as Liam followed. "She rode up alone though," he noted.

As he rounded the corner from the elevator to Rayna's hall, he saw Liam enter Rayna's room. Rayna wasn't actually visible, but when Liam didn't come back out, Deacon went back to his room a few floors down.

He tried calling Rayna, but her phone went straight to voicemail. "What are you getting yourself into Ray?" he wondered.

Deacon didn't know why Liam was here, in fact the last he'd heard, Rayna had fired him, though for what he didn't know.

He honestly didn't know what to do. She'd texted him in Chicago that she wanted to talk, but then Teddy showed up at her door. They hadn't spoken since then, almost a week ago and although he didn't want to admit it, he still cared about her.

He'd wanted to kiss her for a while now and then in the elevator, he lost all his control. Her lips had felt so right against his, but he'd pulled away and left when the elevator stopped on his floor.

In his room now, he just sat on the bed thinking. It wasn't that he was insecure, he knew Rayna enjoyed the kiss, it was the fact that he didn't know what she was thinking.

Or if he'd done the right thing.

They hadn't been together since the last time he went to rehab. He'd thought about them numerous times since then, had been trying not to, but had. When he'd wanted to write a song with her, she'd turn him down though never give him a reason. He knew why. When they wrote a song, they got... intimate for lack of a better word. That's how "No One will Ever Love You" had been written.

Deacon picked up his guitar and just started to strum, not trying to write a new song, just for comfort.


	2. Chapter 2

She slowly regained consciousness and felt an arm draped over her side that didn't belong to her. Someone nuzzled her neck and she remembered Liam. She let him stay there, comforted by it. It wasn't going to be complicated like it would have been with Deacon. "Are we getting back together? What does this mean? What are we going to do now?" None of that was a problem with Liam. They didn't have that complicated history.

That changed quickly.

When they both woke up and started getting dressed again, things were awkward to say the least. Only for a little while though.

Rayna didn't know how to handle things. She hadn't had a one night stand since before Deacon, and she couldn't even remember his name.

"I'm going to shower," she said hesitantly.

"I'll order up some breakfast. Anything special?"

Rayna was caught off guard. She'd expected him to leave, to not want to stay. "No, anything's fine."

"It'll be here when you get out."

"Thanks."

She shut the bathroom door and leaned against it, calming thoughts trying to run through her head, but only thoughts of how complicated things were going to be now with Liam and Deacon.

"Really? You just slept with Liam and you're thinking about Deacon?" she thought to herself. "I still need to talk to him." Rayna sighed and turned the shower on.

Twenty minutes later, she was fully showered and trying to dry out her long, tangled hair with little success. She dressed and went to join Liam for breakfast.

He'd ordered eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, and fruit. Now she really didn't know what to do. When he'd offered breakfast, she expected cereal and toast, not this whole spread.

"Everything looks really good, thanks."

"Don't give me too much credit, I just picked up a phone." They say down across from each other and started eating. The mood lightened and they started talking about the tour, writing new songs, the album, anything music related to avoid anything personal.

Liam left and gave her a kiss on the cheek. When she shut the door, alone now, her mind raced. Things were going to be complicated because she wasn't divorced, they hadn't even had a chance to tell the girls. Her father was not going to be happy, in fact, she wanted to not tell him at all. He'd treat her just like he'd treated her mother.

**Deacon**

He'd worried about Rayna half the night, attempting to call her numerous times, but always hanging up before he could do anything.

He hadn't wanted to worry about her, didn't want to even think about her, but nothing he could do got her out of his head. Deacon decided he'd try to call her once this morning and if she didn't answer, that was it. He'd stop caring.

Or at least that's what he tried to tell himself.

The phone in his hand started ringing as he was about to call Rayna. "Deacon," he answered, not looking at the caller-ID.

"Hey, we never got a chance to talk."

"I didn't know Teddy was going to join us." He hadn't meant for his voice to sound so cold, but it did.

"Teddy just showed up, Deacon! I had no idea he was even here."

"You tell him about what happened in the elevator?"

She noticed he avoided saying what they actually did. "No." They let silence hang between them for a few moments. "What room are you in?"

He gave her his room number and a few minutes later she was standing at his door. "We couldn't do this over the phone."

Deacon stood to the side and let her in. She stood against the wall next to the bed while Deacon sat on the edge of the bed. They both stayed silent for a while, not really sure how to start.

"Teddy asked for a divorce." She blurted out the words before her brain could process it.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but that's why he was at my hotel room. He's tired of waiting for me."

Deacon didn't really care about Teddy. He'd never liked him, never thought he deserved Rayna, but she had loved him one way or another, and had two girls with him. Deacon was mostly concerned about what happened with Liam.

"How are the girls handling it?" He was going to try to get her to mention Liam first.

"We haven't told them yet. We're scheduled to go back home later this week and we'll tell them then."

They stayed quiet again, Rayna shifting uncomfortably against the walk while Deacon fidgeted with his hands, wishing his guitar wasn't across the room.

"What does this mean for us? Rayna!" She hadn't answered him, just continued looking at her boots. Her mouth opened and closed a few times with nothing coming out. "God damn it Rayna!"

"I don't know? We were okay for years Deacon, and then one song at the Bluebird and everything got complicated! I don't know what we are!" She resisted throwing her hands up to cover her eyes that were gradually gathering tears.

"MY feelings never went away Rayna. Every time we were alone, I wanted to kiss you. At the Bluebird, I chose that song because I needed you to know."

"Deacon…"

"You walked away from me that night because you didn't want to figure it out. You just wanted to avoid, like you always did. We never talked about you marrying Teddy while I was recovering, or before that, any argument, we'd go to bed, the next morning, everything was fine, you acted as if nothing even happened!"

"Fine! I'm scared by what this means for us. You've been able to stay sober when I'm not there to complicate things with an actual relationship!"

"If you think I couldn't stay sober because of you…" He was standing now, anger radiating off of him. Rayna stayed leaning against the wall, unsure where this was going.

Deacon used the silence to think. He didn't want to tell her why he'd gotten sober, but saw no other options.

"I married Teddy because I needed someone stable. He was there for me when you couldn't be. If I had known that was going to be your last time in rehab for good, I would have waited."

Now he really had no option. He needed her to know. As he opened his mouth though, someone knocked on the door. His mouth formed some choice words and he went to answer the door. Rayna stayed where she was against the wall, effectively hidden.

"Hey, now's not a great time," he told the stranger.

"Well, we need to rehearse! Plus, I've got a new idea for another song." Her voice graded on Rayna's nerves.

"Juliette, I'm sorry, I can't right now." Rayna heard the door click closed and Deacon reappeared. "I'll pay for that later."

"For everything we need to talk about, we need more than an hour without Juliette interrupting." She smiled and leaned against him. His arm came around her shoulders and they stayed like that for a while.

"We'll talk on the plane." Deacon suggested.

"Juliette will want your full attention. Just to rub it in my face that she has you and I don't."

"And if I brush her off again, she'll be impossible to deal with."

"I thought she already was, but…"

"Hey!"

"When we get back, I have tell the girls and then Teddy's going to my father's so we can try to keep this out of the media."

"Call me when they go to bed."

Once they broke apart, Deacon came around to face Rayna, holding her hands in his. "Things happened with Liam that we'll have to talk about."

"Okay."

A/N: Please comment what you think! Also, I might wait until Wednesday's episode to finish chapter 3, we'll see.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This is so late because I had to re-write it three times before I was satisfied.

Chapter 3:

The plane ride home was… Peaceful. That was really the only way for Rayna to describe it. Deacon would sneak looks at her when Juliette wasn't looking and Rayna would smile.

She and Juliette had never gotten along, Rayna had no idea why, but Juliette had always been cold towards her. Now she had Deacon and though Rayna didn't want to admit it, she was almost jealous. She knew if she wanted Deacon back though, she could get him. Even before their most recent talk.

She'd fired him because she was trying to save her marriage, but now, there was nothing left to save. They'd both agreed it was better for the girls if they divorced.

When Rayna got home, she was alone. Teddy was in a meeting and the girls were at school and then they had a dance class neither wanted to miss. She had time to think, which is not what she wanted to do.

She'd slept with Liam.

She couldn't get over that. No alcohol had been involved, she'd just been sad and he'd been there.

Her guilt weighed her down even though she was getting divorced, she felt like a cheater. Her mom had cheated on her father, though she didn't find out until a few months ago. He'd never approved of her relationship with Deacon because of it.

But now she had cheated. Nothing would change that.

"Hey, I know we're supposed to talk later, but…" she paused, not wanting to outright ask him to help her think things through. She'd called him because she still had at least two hours before anyone was home.

"I'll be right over Ray."

"Thanks Deacon."

She sat at the kitchen counter, staring at the phone in her hand. She wasn't waiting for it to ring, but had nothing else to do while she waited for Deacon.

When the knock on her door came, she still hesitated to answer. "Hey."

"Liam!" Rayna hadn't expected him to be in Nashville.

"Can I come in?" he asked, slightly unsure.

"Yeah, um, I'm expecting Deacon…"

"I won't be long then."

She stepped aside to let him in, closing the door behind her and leaning against it, taking deep breaths.

"I don't want you to expect anything from me," he started.

"One time thing," she tried to assure him and herself. "All I want is to finish the album."

Another knock on her door stopped whatever Liam was about to say.

"Deacon…"

"I didn't know there was a party." He glared at Liam.

"We're putting an album together."

Rayna really didn't want them in the same room. They'd fight if she didn't get Liam to leave.

"She called me…"

"Don't start, either of you!" They both looked at her. "I need to talk to Deacon," she spoke carefully. "Liam, can we talk tomorrow?"

"Why don't we all talk now/" Deacon suggested. "Liam's involved anyway."

"You told him we had sex?"

"You slept with him?" Anger and hurt flooded Deacon's voice and face. He knew they had, it was just the shock of actually hearing it out loud. "You're married Ray!"

"We're getting a divorce Deacon, and what I do is none of your business!"

He regarded her carefully. "What about us?"

"I thought she dumped you years ago?" Liam spoke up.

"Our history isn't your concern. Rayna could see Deacon tense and jumped between the two men before anything could happen. She was facing Liam, but took one of Deacon's hands in hers, trying to calm him.

"I'll call you tomorrow to talk about the album."

Liam leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek even though Deacon stood pressed against her back. His hand in hers squeezed tight and Liam smiled as he left.

"Be careful around him," Deacon warned her.

Rayna led him to a sitting room off the entry and realized exactly why she felt so guilty. She realized why sleeping with Liam, the horrible idea that it had been, had weighed so heavily on her.

"I'm sorry."

"For what Ray? Sleeping with that…"

"I slept with Liam." It was the first time she actually said it out loud and the truth of hit fully hit her. "I feel guilty." She was careful, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

"You're not the type to cheat."

"Let me finish." He nodded. "I feel guilty, not because of Teddy, but because of you." Deacon stayed quiet, though sat down on the couch. Rayna joined him, tucking her bare feet underneath her. "I don't know if Teddy slept with that woman or not. I know they have history, but…" She stopped herself before she started ranting. "Our marriage has been over for a while now, not just because of our relationship, but because of my father and my career."

"What are you saying Ray?"

She laughed and threw her head back against the couch. "I have no idea!" Deacon smiled with her now. "I felt like I cheated on you. Of course I didn't realize that until a few minutes ago."

"You know the tabloids have found out about the divorce?"

"Tandy text me…" Her phone that she'd left on the kitchen counter started ringing. "I have to get that," she told him while standing up and smoothing out her clothes.

"I'll be right here."

"Rayna James," she answered without looking at the caller-ID.

"Tell me the truth. Did you sleep with Deacon?"

"Tandy?"

"Rayna, just tell me, yes or no, did you sleep with Deacon?"

"No, we haven't been together since…"

"We don't have time for your history with him. Did you sleep with…"

"I already told you…"

"Liam McGuinnis," she finished. "Ray?"

Deacon saw the shock on her face from the doorway and rushed to her. "What? Are the girls okay?"

"Rayna, did you sleep with Liam? I need a yes or no, please don't lie to me."

"Rayna's gonna have to call you back." Deacon said into the phone, taking it from Rayna and ending the call with her sister.

"How…?"

Deacon saw the woman he loved fall apart in front of his eyes and his heart broke.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

*Tandy*

"She hung up on me!"

"That's your answer then," her father drawled in his southern accent.

"I can't drag her through the mud. You may not approve of her life, but she's still my sister."

"Either way you look at it, she slept with one of them." The father-daughter duo had almost forgot Teddy was in the room and that they were talking about his wife.

"It was only a matter of time," Lamar stated, thinking of his own wife.

Teddy glared at his back, still caring about Rayna and not appreciating the way he talked about his oldest daughter.

"She didn't say yes or no…" Tandy tried to defend her sister.

"She didn't answer. That's the loudest yes possible." Lamar left the small conference room.

*Rayna & Deacon*

"Sit down," Deacon instructed her. "Breathe." He'd never seen her lose it. He'd seen her stumble during a concert or during rehearsal, but not a full breakdown. He pulled her into him and rubbed her back while her breathing went back to normal.

"I have to tell the girls tonight before they hear it from friends or…"

"Don't worry about that now."

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone…"

"It's okay." Deacon wasn't used to this. Before he'd finally gotten sober, Rayna had always comforted him, not about the same things of course, though he couldn't remember most of that time.

They stayed like that for a few minutes while Rayna calmed down. "You should probably leave. Teddy will be home soon."

"Call me when you can."

"I will, though it might not be until late tonight."

"I just want to know you're okay." He kissed the top of her head and they helped each other up.

"We're getting too old to sit on the ground!" Rayna joked as they stretched and smoothed out wrinkles in their clothes.

"Let's agree not to anymore." They both laughed and nodded their heads.

"I'll call you later." They hugged lingering a few seconds longer than necessary, turning it from friendly to amorous. Deacon left, Rayna shutting the door on his back. She was alone for almost half-an-hour before Teddy arrived home. "What are we going to tell the girls?" Teddy had opened his mouth to say something, but Rayna interrupted him.

"Just that it's not their fault and that we'll try to keep them and this out of the media."

"Okay. Are you still going to my fathers?"

"Once they go to bed. In the morning you can tell them I had to leave early for a meeting."

"Are you taking them to school?"

"Yeah."

The couple stood in an awkward silence until the girls arrived a few minutes later. Both girls ran into the house, screaming, having seen their mom's car in the driveway.

"Mom!" they screamed.

"Hey! I've missed you two!"

"Well if you'd take us on tour…" Maddie told her mother, trailing off.

"I told you, as soon as you graduate from college!" She couldn't wipe the smile off her face, her first true smile since Teddy had asked for the divorce.

"I made you a cake!" Daphne chimed in.

"We," Maddie corrected her. They went around the small island counter and stood proudly next to their cake.

"Ooo, chocolate! My favorite!" The girls started to uncover it, but their mom stopped them. "After we have supper we can have cake."

"Fine," they sulked in unison.

"Go do your homework while your father and I start supper."

"Okay!" Daphne skipped off to do her homework while Maddie stayed, sensing something was off with her parents.

"What's wrong?" Teddy had turned to the fridge, but Rayna noticed her daughter's hesitation.

"Nothing, just happy you're home," she said after a moment.

Rayna followed her out into the hall. "If you ever need to talk to me, don't hesitate, okay? I know my career takes me away for a while, but…"

"Don't worry mom." She gave her mom another hug and ran off to her room to do her homework. Rayna went back into the kitchen where Teddy was still in the fridge. "Did anything happen that I don't know about?"

Teddy's eyes widened and then closed, still in the fridge. "No, nothing that they told me."

"I'll have to talk to Maddie after we tell them about…" She struggled for a word that wasn't divorce. "Us," she finally said.

"Alright." He pulled himself out of the fridge with food. "If you could start this while I make a call."

"You trust me to cook?" They both smiled for the first time since she'd gotten back, finally comfortable around each other again.

*Deacon*

The notebook fell out of his hand as his phone rang. "Hello?" He hadn't paid attention to the caller-ID, but assumed it was the one person he needed to talk to.

"Explain to me why you've blown me off all week. I pay you, you have to listen to me!"

"I can easily not work for you Juliette."

"What's wrong with you this week?"

"Other people have lives and problems outside of yours." He had no idea how to get her off the phone.

Juliette was silent for a moment, something Deacon knew was rare. "It's Rayna isn't it? What is it about that woman…"

"Rayna needs me right now. I helped you when you needed it. She needs me now."

"She had you and threw you away for her husband. She's never appreciated…"

"Don't assume you know what we've been through." Anger pierced his voice, but it was too late for Juliette to back track. "Rayna and I have a history more complicated than your life. Maybe you should think about what you're doing to the people around you before judging their life." He hung up on her and contemplated calling her back and quitting, but his phone rang again.

"Hey Ray."

"Was your phone off?"

"Ah," he thought for a moment. "Juliette wanted… something."

"Oh, do you need to rescue her?"

"No, the girls asleep?"

"Yeah, and Teddy just left."

"You want me to come over?"

She sat on the couch and folded her legs under her. "Yeah." She looked at her hand in her lap and fought back tears. "Yeah."


	5. Chapter 5

She was sitting in a chair across from Liam as they worked on writing songs for her album when her phone rang. "It's Deacon, I have to take this."

"I'll work on this," he told her indicating the notebook in his lap with a half written song in it.

"Hey."

"Have you seen the tabloids?"

"No, not recently," she said hesitantly, wondering why _he _was reading tabloids.

"They're saying you've been having an ongoing affair…"

"That's ridiculous! We only…" Her eyes darted to Liam as Deacon cut her off.

"With me, Ray."

She stopped her pacing and just stared. "How'd you find out?"

"Juliette took great pleasure in calling me and telling me the Queen of Country wasn't so sparkling clean."

"I'm going to assume those are her words."

"Yeah, but she wasn't so thrilled with the guy being me."

"I can only imagine." Rayna closed her eyes, sat back down in the chair, and rested her head in her free hand. "Tandy is watching the girls. I've got to get home before they find out."

They hung up and Liam let her sit. "What's wrong?"

"A magazine has published something about Deacon and me having an affair. I have to go home." She didn't move. "Tandy called me…"

"I'll drive." Liam grabbed his jacket and left the notebook on the couch.

Rayna called Tandy while Liam drove her car. "We can't go anywhere. Reporters are camped out at the gate."

"I'll be home I a few minutes." She hung up and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the headrest. "There are reported at the gate."

"Do I get extra points for hitting them?"

She smiled, but stayed quiet. As they came up to her road, they could see lights and camera's set up, TV vans and reporters crowding everywhere. Liam carefully and slowly moved through them and through the gates that closed behind them once they were away from the gate.

"Those pictures will be all over the internet in half-an-hour. I'll have to call Bucky."

"Don't worry about that. Shouldn't Tandy be able to…"

"I've kept my career separate from my personal life for a reason."

"How long did you keep your breakup from Deacon a secret?"

"Deacon and I never really broke-up. We just," she stopped, trying to find the right word to describe what they were. "We just shifted, changed directions."

"I could figure that out myself."

He'd pulled into her garage and they got out. As they came through the door, her daughters ran up to Rayna. Maddie held up her phone and asked, "Is this true?" Tandy walked in behind them.

"This is stuff for mommy and me to talk about." Tandy told them.

"It's all trash just so they can sell magazines. Don't worry. Now go do your homework."

Maddie hesitated, but followed her younger sister out of the room.

"_Is _any of this true?"

"I haven't seen anything yet. Deacon called me…"

"Here." Tandy shoved a magazine in Rayna's hands. She scanned the cover and found the page with the article. The cover had an old picture of her and Deacon wrapped around each other in what was supposed to be an intimate moment that had been ruined by photographers. She still remembered the day. The caption across the photo read, "More than friends for most of James' marriage."

"Teddy's not going to be happy."

"You should hear Daddy."

"I bet he's have fun with this. After mom…"

"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner.

"Daddy should have told me."

"He didn't want to damage the image you had of mom."

"Like he ever cared," she mumbled, looking to Liam standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"If I could interrupt before things get out of hand," he'd read Rayna's signal. "That doesn't really seem like the biggest issue right now."

Tandy pulled her sister into the kitchen farther and lowered her voice so Liam couldn't hear her. "Why is her here?"

"We were writing when Deacon called me. Liam and I are friends, he offered to drive me because I couldn't even think."

"You slept with him…"

"Very few people know that and don't even think for a second that I don't know about Teddy and Peggy." Rayna's voice was sharp, but it had an edge of hurt.

"What?"

"Maddie over heard him on the phone…"

"Maddie? How's she taking it?"

"She's confused."

"Daddy will want to know. You may not believe it, but he still cares about you. He'll take care of Teddy." Tandy grabbed her jacket and purse and started for the door.

"Mind dropping me off at the studio?" Liam put on his charm, but Tandy just rolled her eyes and he followed.

**Two Days Later**

He couldn't concentrate. His mind wandered to all of his conversations with Rayna and everything that had led up to them that night. He was leaning against the back of his couch, his one foot propped up on the coffee table, and his guitar in his lap, absently strumming.

Why had he gone over there? He knew how everything would end up as soon as she'd called. They'd both known. They'd started talking about the tabloid and the pictures they'd run. They had remembered when one picture in particular had been taken.

They were sitting in Deacon's old truck, there was a light drizzle outside, cleaning the outside of his truck for him. A half-written song lay in a notebook next to them on the seat. They had thought they were alone, being out in the middle of nowhere, but a photographer had found them and snapped a picture as they kissed, Rayna sitting in Deacon's lap, one leg on each side.

Rayna had seen the photographer before Deacon and had started to move off of him, blurring the photo slightly, but not enough to not know who it was. Deacon had been furious and only Rayna's calming hands on his arm stopped him from getting out of the truck and pounding on the guy. When he was out of sight, they both laughed and Rayna leaned against Deacon, putting her feet up on the dash and grabbing her notebook while Deacon's arm went around her shoulders.

Deacon shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. He really shouldn't have been thinking about her. He needed to write for Juliette.

"But how do you write for someone else when all you can think about is Rayna?" he wondered. Eventually he just gave up and went into the kitchen where he'd left his phone. He'd dialed her number without even thinking and she'd answered before he really knew what he was doing.

"Hey."

"Uh, hey."

"Thanks for the call about the article. Could they at least have used a more recent photo?"

"Didn't we write "No One Will Ever Love You" that day?"

She laughed." Yeah, I think so. That reporter sure got more than he intended!"

They both stayed quiet for a few minutes. "We need to talk Ray."

"We've done a lot of talking in the past few weeks."

"We need to talk about last night."

Rayna didn't want to. "I've got the girls and Tandy keeps calling…"

"We had sex Rayna!"

Rayna was finding it hard to breathe and braced herself on the island counter. When she could finally breathe again, she tried to compromise with him. "I can't do this now with the girls home, the reporters and the article…" She trailed off. "Meet me at our spot tomorrow around noon?"

"I'm meeting with Juliette at 11:00."

"I'm supposed to leave for New York tomorrow night."

"Noon."

"Noon."

They both hung up without saying anything more.

A/N: Please let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I had to change a few words out, so this really isn't new, just revised.

*Their lips moved in sync, bodies pressed against each one another, his hands grabbing hers and forcing them against the wall.

She moaned into him and he moved down to her neck, his lips immediately finding her weak sport. It hadn't changed at all in almost fifteen years.*

She slowly woke up, the effects of her dream lingering a little longer than she would have liked. Looking through her curtains, she noticed it was till dark outside. The clock on her nightstand read 3:00.

Rayna had gotten four hours of sleep. If she wanted to be nice to anyone, she had to have at least one more hour of sleep. She was afraid to sleep again though. The dream had felt so real. Of course it had happened two days ago.

Her conscious weighed her down. She'd slept with Liam, cheating on Teddy, and mentally cheating on Deacon. Now she'd slept with Deacon. It hadn't felt like she was cheating on anyone with Deacon. Everything had just felt right. She smiled at how cheesy it sounded to her.

But it had been true.

She tossed and turned for another ten minutes before falling into a restless sleep. When Daphne woke her up, what seemed like five minutes later, it was almost 6:00.

"I'm up!" She sat up and pulled her youngest daughter on to her lap. "How long have you been up?"

"Not long, but we need food."

"You need a healthy breakfast," Rayna told her, laughing at Daphne's failed trick to have candy for breakfast. "Make sure Maddie's up and I'll see what I can scrape together."

"You're cooking?"

"I can make simple things!"

They both laughed and Daphne raced off to wake up her older sister. Rayna leaned her head back against the headboard, closed her eyes, and sighed. She and Deacon needed to figure out exactly where they stood so she could stop having these dreams about him.

But right now, her girls needed to get ready to go to school, which was always fun. Two hectic hours later, both girls were at school and Rayna was trying to figure out what to do for the next few hours.

She made some calls to Bucky and her lawyer about the divorce and then called Liam and apologized again. As she was about to leave for her meeting with Deacon, her father called.

"What do you want?"

"You're still my daughter Rayna," he drawled. "What Teddy did is inexcusable. I'll take care of it."

"We're getting a divorce daddy."

"That's no excuse."

Rayna could tell he was about to go on, but interrupted him. "I slept with Liam. Teddy slept with Peggy. We're even."

"He lied to you Rayna."

"And mom lied to you, I get it. Do whatever you want, but I have a meeting." She hung up without letting him say anything more.

She drove to their meeting spot thinking about the other night, about her dream, and about them. She was first to the bridge, but Deacon pulled up a few minutes later. They both got out and carefully worked their way to a small stone bench next to the river.

When they'd actually been dating, they'd meet there if they needed to get away from everyone. Over the years they stopped meeting. Not that they didn't want to, but Rayna had moved on with Teddy and Deacon knew that he needed to let her go for their relationship to work.

"Did you tell Juliette we were meeting?"

"NO. It's none of her business."

They sat down as far away from each other as possible on the small bench. There was at least an inch between them. Silence rang out, Rayna crossed her long legs and absently rubbed at a spot of dirt on her boots. Deacon leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"What's wrong with us Ray?" he finally asked, not looking at her.

"Now or in general?" A small smile tried to grace her face, but she pushed it away. "I'm still technically married…"

"You don't love him and it's not like he's been faithful in the past few months!" Deacon couldn't understand how anyone could hurt her like that.

Then again, he'd been in love with her since the day they met.

"That doesn't give me a free pass to sleep with anyone!"

"Do you regret what we did?" He sat up and looked at her. She wouldn't look at him. "Do you regret sleeping with me Ray?"

She'd thought about that a lot in the past few days. Being with Deacon again had felt right. She'd expected to feel guilty after, like the time with Liam, but everything had just felt right. "No," she finally told him. "I don't regret being with you."

"Then why are we like this now? It's not like this is our first time." That got her to smile and actually look at him.

"We've been friends for over twenty years Deacon. The last fifteen we've been just friends." She stopped and stood up to relieve her restlessness by pacing.

"It's hard to ignore all of our history."

"Everyone who knows us, thinks we've been sleeping together since you got out of rehab, that we never stopped actually dating. My father…"

"Your father doesn't know how to appreciate you. He never has."

"My mom had a singer-songwriter friend." She looked at Deacon to make sure he knew what she meant. "Daddy never approved of our relationship because of that. He set up my meeting Teddy after I dropped you off at the rehab center."

Deacon stood up and walked around the bench to stand in front of Rayna. "Even before the alcohol, Lamar never liked me." Rayna took a step forward. "Those feelings never really went away did they?"

"They changed I think."

"What the hell does that mean Ray?"

Their moment was broken and Deacon backed up, putting plenty of space between them. "My feelings for everything and everyone around me changed Deacon!"

"Did you just shut those feelings off?"

"No! I always cared about you!"

"I never stopped loving you Ray! It's only been you! I haven't had an actual relationship since you! It's only ever been you." He'd been yelling, but gave up by the last word. Rayna stayed quiet, looking down at the ground. Deacon could see tears shining in her eyes. "Fine, you want me to move on? I will."

He turned around and started back towards his car. He'd reached the road before Rayna came to her senses. "Deacon!" He stopped by the bridge wall. "You can't just say that and walk away!"

"You said your feelings had changed Rayna! What was I supposed to do? Stand there and let you tell me how we're better as friends? How, I don't know, us sleeping together shouldn't change anything?" She stood dumbstruck next to her car. "It does change things Ray. That night at the Bluebird changed us."

"Don't you think I know that?! That night at the Bluebird complicated everything again! I remembered how good it felt, just the two of us! It felt like going home and I was scared of that!" She stopped to control her emotions. Deacon stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "I remembered when we wrote that song, where we were in our relationship! I remembered how I used to feel around you, how no matter what, we could always talk about anything!" Tears were freely falling down her cheeks.

"I never forgot Ray. I got sober for you, I've stayed clean for you." He was tired of fighting her.

"I never wanted to hurt you. If I had known back then that that was really going to be your last time, I would have waited for you. That night I wouldn't have gone to the bar with Tandy, I would have stayed at our place and waited to be allowed to visit you."

"What about now Ray? I'd wait for you forever if I just knew eventually, things would be back to normal, that'd we'd have a chance again."

"We do because of the Bluebird! Everything has just been so complicated since…"

He shoved her against the car door and put an inch between them. His hands moved from her arms down to her fingers, intertwining them with his. She stared up into his eyes as he slowly came into kiss her.


	7. Chapter 7

He leaned in to kiss her, letting go of her hands to pull her and keep her closer to him, his hands resting on her lower back. Rayna didn't' know what to do with her hands at first, still not used to being kissed by him again, or really, by anyone. She soon remembered though and moved her hands from his chest to his neck, finally crossing her wrists behind his head, deepening their kiss and moaning into him.

When they both needed air, they pulled apart, keeping their faces close. "Teddy has the girls tonight." She was breathing hard, half leaning against Deacon, her legs weak from the power behind the kiss.

"Only you and I have a key to my house." He was breathing just as hard as she, though his hands had moved to her hips.

"The reporters don't stake out your house."

"You'd have to stay in a hotel with Teddy at your house."

"Then why are we still standing here talking?"

"That's a good question."

They stood like that for a while, processing what they were about to do. They last time neither had realized what they were doing until after it had happened. Things weren't awkward, she's been asleep, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and left, making sure not to wake up her daughters. They both knew why he left while she was asleep.

"All my career I've done the right thing. I've done what I'm supposed to do."

"You and I both know that's crap. For the past five months you've been fighting with Marshall about the album."

"He wanted me to do a Greatest Hits album!" Deacon laughed and Rayna shivered. It was cold outside, and her light jacket wasn't warm enough.

"Do you want to go to my house?" He left her plenty of room to back out.

She thought about it for a minute, turning her head away from him. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Are you going to regret this later?" Deacon knew what an affair could do to a career and didn't want that to happen to the Queen of Country.

"Teddy and I are getting a divorce. We are separated. He chose to sleep with that woman…"

"I'm not here for revenge sex."

"You could never be revenge sex. What we have together could never be that cheap."

"Then what do you want Ray?" He backed away from her and leaned against the wall of the bridge.

"I want everything back to normal! I want to know what our lives would have been like if we hadn't stopped seeing each other!"

"You can't have everything Rayna!"

She looked at the ground and kicked a rock with her boot to disguise the hurt in her eyes from his using her full name. He never used her full name. He always called her Ray. "I know, I'm trying to figure out what I can have."

"Can we ever get back to what we used to be?"

"Eventually, yeah."

"You're the only person I've ever loved ray. I don't think that'll ever change."

"I know. I know I never could love Teddy like I love you. That's why he wants the divorce."

"And you don't?"

"Of course I do! He's cheating on me! He's lying to our girls!"

"So he's not stable anymore?" He was being hurtful and he knew it.

"What do you want from me Deacon? An actual relationship? Do you want the old us?" Tears started to gather in her eyes, but she refused to allow them to fall again. "Do you want to write love songs like we used to? When we ended up in bed before we could ever even finish the chorus?"

He didn't respond, just stood looking at her, leaning against the wall, wanting to feel her skin against his again, but resisting. Barely.

Rayna took his silence as an answer and started for the driver's side of her car. She turned back to look at him and possibly get an answer, but when all he did was stare, she got in her car and drove away.

Tears slowly slid down her cheeks.

*Later that evening*  
*Deacon*

After he'd gotten home from the talk with Rayna, he'd barely stopped himself from destroying everything in the house. They hadn't really solved anything. All they'd done was frustrate the other and realize they wanted to be together.

Deacon knew she wouldn't want to cheat on Teddy. At least not again. She wouldn't' want to disgrace what they had, but at the same time, he knew she wanted to be with him again.

He heard a soft knock at his front door, but didn't move to answer it. "Deacon, I know you're in there!" She paused, waited. "C'mon Deacon!"

"You have a key." His voice was flat, cold, but he heard the lock click, a door open and then close and then saw Rayna come around the corner to his living room.

She leaned against the wall and held up a bag. "Got a spare room?" It was rhetorical of course, but she needed some way to get him to actually talk to her.

"Plenty of room." He was still being cold towards her, but had some small resemblance to emotion back in his voice.

Rayna dropped her bag and walked over to Deacon on the couch. She stood in front of him. "You're not drunk."

"No. I haven't touched that stuff in fifteen years."

"I'd like to be drunk right now." She didn't move to sit next to him. "I found Peggy at my house."

"Were the girls there?"

"No, Tandy took them because Teddy asked her to."

"Well, there's no liquor here."

"I don't need a drink. I want a drink, but I don't need it." She shoved his foot off of his knee where it had been resting and straddled him.

"What about New York?"

"I talked to Bucky before our meeting. We're going to reschedule." She put her hands on his chest. "I need you. I've always needed you. You've always been there for me and I've taken that for granted. I'm really sorry about that." She started to unbutton his shirt.

He rested his hands on her hips and didn't stop her quick fingers as they worked on his buttons. "I'll always be here for you Ray."

"And I should have been here for you, through everything."

"You were there for me through five trips to rehab."

"I should have been able to see what you felt for me."

"You were busy being Rayna James."

"I was busy trying to hold my marriage together." Her fingers trailed down his now bare chest. "Something I didn't get to say before, I need to say now. My feelings never went away. I tried to push them away, forget about them to make things easier. All that did was complicate things then and now.

"Are we going to do something here or talk about the past?" he started to run his hands up her sides, taking her shirt with them, eventually pulling it over her head.

"We're definitely doing something." She leaned down and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

He picked her up and she wrapped her long legs around his waist. When they got to the bedroom, they tumbled on to the bed in a heap of ripping clothes and tangled bodies.


End file.
